James Martin argues that the Catechism contributes to LGBT youth suicide

In a recent interview, James Martin, S.J., clearly implied (by repeating gay-advocacy talking-points) that language in “The Catechism of the Catholic Church” directly contributes to the high level of teen suicides among LGBT young people.

[Interviewer] Well the people who’ve seen your book or know something about you are complaining that you want to rewrite some of the Catechism to differently ordered, can you speak about that. [Martin] Yeah, well part of the Catechism says that homosexual people are objectively disordered; their actions are objectively disordered and they themselves are intrinsically disordered. And so basically what I’m saying in the book is you know we need to look at how that language is received by people and heard by people and basically all I’m saying is that there are several bishops who said that that wording needs to be looked at. And now imagine someone telling you – you are intrinsically disordered, I mean how would that make you feel? [Interviewer] It’s a tough phrase. [Martin] I think it’s more than that. I was giving a talk in Washington and the mother of a gay boy came up to me, a fourteen-year-old young man, and said to me, I put this in a revised version of my book that’s coming out in a couple months, this is a quote: Do people understand what that kind of language could do to a young person? It could destroy him. [Interviewer] Wow. [Martin] What the book says is we need to listen to that, that’s all the books says. What does that mean? Can we listen to that mother? And its true. I mean LGBT youths are five times, five times more likely to attempt suicide than straight kids. Five times.

This argument, which attempts to find a correlation linking a lack of institutional and societal acceptance and the disparity between homosexuals and heterosexuals with regards to mental health issues, has repeatedly been made by several LGBT advocates and pro-gay Catholic ministries.

For example, Javier Plasencia and his wife Martha started the “Always Our Children” ministry for the parents of “gay” children in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. On the official Catholic Ministry for Lesbian and Gay Persons (CMLGP) web-site, Javier and Martha Plascencia are listed as the contacts under “Parent Support Groups.” In a video for the Jesuit- run Ignatian News, the Plasencias were interviewed about their “gay” son and their ministry; Martha said that: “The language in the Catechism has to change. That word ‘intrinsically disordered,’ my son is not intrinsically disordered. And the bullets from the Catechism, they can harm a lot of children – I mean to the extent of suicide.”

Gay advocate Carl Siciliano, Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center, who was raised a Catholic, has criticized the Catechism for what he judges as “homophobic expressions” which he claims have contributed to increased homelessness and suicide among LGBT youth. As a result, the Ali Forney Center produced a video entitled “It’s Not a Sin.” According to Siciliano:

As a Roman Catholic, I am particularly horrified by the homophobic expressions of our Catechism, which is the mechanism by which the teachings of the Church are conveyed. It’s stance towards homosexual persons makes no sense. While it indicates that homosexual persons “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity,” its’s stance towards “homosexual acts” utterly contradicts this with categorical condemnation that is anything but respectful or compassionate. The Catechism describes homosexual acts as being a “grave depravity,” as being “intrinsically disordered,” as being against the law of nature, and “under no circumstances can they be approved.”

He added:

I hope that this video will raise urgent moral questions for us Catholics. How do we stop being complicit in the harm to innumerable LGBT youths done by the teachings of our Church? How do we create an environment in our parishes and our schools that help parents love and accept their LGBT children? How do we protect children from being harmed by homophobic teachings in churches, schools, religious education programs?

As a former homosexual, I have met and conversed with thousands of “gay” men and women, many of whom were brought-up as Catholics and or attended Catholic schools as children, but I have never met a single person who said that a priest, deacon, or lay minister called them “intrinsically disordered;” or for that matter – even mentioned what the Catechism says about homosexuality. In fact, the only individuals that discuss these so-called problematic terms are gay Catholic activists and the Catholic parents of LGBT children.

Overall, the most vocal opponents of Church teachings pertaining to homosexuality are the militant mothers of gay sons. Usually, the sons are separated from the Church, and they themselves are comfortable with that decision, but the parents become angry and bitter because the Church supposedly rejected their child. The dissident group Fortunate Families, which has received support from several US Catholic Bishops, including former USCCB President Archbishop Wilton Gregory, serves as a sort of clearing-house for the submitted stories which typically detail how a family changed their opinion of Church teachings once a son, daughter, brother or sister or some other close relative “came-out” as a “gay.”

After the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, Deb Word, then President of Fortunate Families and mother of a “gay” son, released the following statement:

“Fortunate Families celebrates with our LGBT children the opportunity to share in the same rights as their straight siblings. The Supreme Court decision brings legal stability to our children’s lives and security to our grandchildren. We applaud this decision and continue our work in the Catholic tradition seeking social justice for all our children…”

While the extraordinary high rates of homelessness and suicide among LGBT youth are incredibly troubling, I think it is also unhelpful and dangerous to simply ascribe this problem to discrimination, intolerance, familial unacceptance, and religious bigotry. While those problems certainly exist, there is a larger issue of untreated mental illness with those in the LGBT community which I believe is actually responsible for much of the unneeded suffering. Only, LGBT activists will not address this pervasive problem because of the other questions it possibly raises; such as the actual origins of homosexuality and whether legislation and social engineering are the keys to greater flourishing and happiness among those in the LGBT community.

As someone who endured oftentimes merciless bullying and teasing as a boy, because of my perceived sexual orientation, and as a young man who did not experience parental acceptance, I can testify that far more traumatic events occurred once I “came-out” and entered the gay male community. The hyper-sexualization, the preponderance of disease, and the pain caused by engaging in sexual acts which are physiologically harmful – made every disappointment and sorrow from childhood seem rather insignificant in comparison. I too once attempted to commit suicide, not because I was harassed as a boy, but after I found life as an adult “gay” man so incredibly unfulfilling. At least, in my case, it didn’t get better. (See the ground-breaking essay by Michael Hobbes: “The Epidemic of Gay Loneliness;” warning graphic content.)

Even the existence of persistent discrimination and oppression does not necessarily expedite an increase in suicides: for example, the suicide rate for African Americans is 70% lower than that of the non-Hispanic white population.

James Martin is worried about the Catechism “destroying” a young “gay” man or woman; but here are the real issues facing those same precious souls; indeed, LGBT youths are 5 times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexuals, but there are also many other disparities:

Forty-six percent of the homosexual men in contrast to 7% of the heterosexual men reported homosexual molestation. Twenty-two percent of lesbian women in contrast to 1% of heterosexual women reported homosexual molestation.

Men who have sex with men are 3.5 times more likely to use marijuana than men who do not have sex with men.
These men also are 12.2 times more likely to use amphetamines than men who do not have sex with men.
They are also 9.5 times more likely to use heroin than men who do not have sex with men.

In nations with a long history of highly progressive LGBT acceptance and tolerance, significant mental health disparities between homosexuals and heterosexuals persist; in the Netherlands, the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage: “homosexual Dutch men have much higher rates of mood disorders, anxiety disorders and suicide attempts than heterosexual Dutch men.” And in Sweden, where the Constitution was amended to include prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, even same-sex married individuals continue to exhibit increased rates of suicidal behavior: “Among same-sex married men the suicide risk was nearly three-fold greater as compared to different-sex married.”

15 Comments

Why is he still a priest? I am just shocked at how he continues to attack our Catholic faith/God!!!!!! He needs to be removed.

Joel Torczon
January 4, 2018 at 7:15 am

Amen to that, Tracey. Fr. Martin is clearly causing great harm,.confusion and scandal to the faith. He needs to be defrocked … pronto!

Joel Torczon
January 4, 2018 at 7:13 am

Sciambra is right on about the likes of Martin causing far more damage to the wellbeing of homosexuals than any church teaching against the homosexual lifestyle. God has made nature in such a way that safeguards against corruption are built into.his creation for our own good and survival. Resist that and you’re only asking for trouble. Folks like Martin utterly fail to recognize that and, by listening to the ways of the world rather than God, they have let their intrinsically disordered compassion get the better of their judgment.

Joel Torczon
January 4, 2018 at 7:28 am

Furthermore, I’d be curious to know just how Fr. Martin would call homosexuals to repentance if he had it his way. My hunch is that he would either leave the subject out of the Catechism altogether or word it in a way that affirms their sinful lifestyle. In other words, he would be doing them a great disservice. Has anyone ever heard him call homosexuals to repentance? I’d think not.

Brad
January 4, 2018 at 1:01 pm

Some one needs to inform Fr. Martin about the study that shows this assertion is wrong. The study found the percentage of LGBT suicides in Sweden, where they are accepted, is at least as high as it is in the US. So it is not due to telling LGBT that they are disordered.

Fr. John Higgins
January 4, 2018 at 4:25 pm

I’ve met a few Priests like Jim Martin. They think that they are somehow smarter and wiser than the Church. One told me that he doesn’t really like “saying Mass” and only does it if he’s assigned to do it. Martin may be different in that way, but he sure makes stupid comments. If we ever met in person I think we would not get along very well at all. No, I would not buy him a watercress sandwich or a Shirley Temple.

JTLiuzza
January 4, 2018 at 6:45 pm

Another projection. Sodomy is suicide of the soul. It is he and his enablers in the hierarchy who are encouraging suicide.

I’ve seen in the comments the question, “why is he allowed to continue?” Every Catholic needs to ponder that one very carefully. The answer is obvious. He’s not doing anything his betters disagree with, up to and including Rome.

The Bride of Christ is infested with sodomite clerics and those who support them either out of sympathy for their goals or out of cowardly silence. But we know Christ doesn’t abandon His Bride. I hope I’m around to see how He finally cleans house, and He will.

Pray for Holy Mother Church, for the strength of orthodox clerics, and for the conversion of the countless priests like James Martin.

Magdalene
January 4, 2018 at 9:12 pm

Why would he even think that the gender confused young people are reading the Catholic catechism????

Joel Torczon
January 5, 2018 at 6:09 am

Touche! I’d love to hear Fr. Martin respond to that!

Brian Walsh
January 5, 2018 at 12:04 am

Somebody needs to pin Father Jim Martin down and ask him the following questions:
1. What other parts of the Catechism he’d change;
2. What he makes of Sodom & Gomorrah and specific instance in the Bible (the inerrant, inspired Word of God) in which sodomy is condemned;
3. What makes him think he countermand God? Seriously, he can sit and argue with me, Mr. Sciambra, Steve Skojec or whomever else all day but he has to answer for what he would say to God. In other words, either make him repudiate the Bible or clearly illustrate from whence he derives any hint that God blesses homosexuality.

Does God bless porn addicts to continue watching porn? How about pedophiles? Can kleptomaniacs continue stealing with God’s blessing?

Joel Torczon
January 5, 2018 at 6:12 am

Fr. Martin, are you reading this?

Frank
January 5, 2018 at 8:54 pm

James Martin will have many souls to answer for. Especially, the children that are being encouraged to irreversibly mutilate their bodies, ingest hormones in untested quantities, (God only knows the health problems that this will cause by the time they are in their twenties), and encouraging the normalization of delusional behavior. (“delusion”-belief in a false, fixed idea.)
If you are reading this James Martin, take heed! Jesus will require you to explain why you encouraged behavior that caused so many young people to self-mutilate and commit suicide. Those are God’s children that you were ordained to shepherd.
What will your answer be?

jack Rochester
January 5, 2018 at 10:54 pm

Joseph Sciambra, can you please provide the references used to make claims regarding percentages, 3x more likely, etc. You quote no sources, which seriously brings into question the validity of your facts. I have never seen any scientific journal report this information. I think those are distorted claims from unreliable sources.

Joseph Sciambra
January 5, 2018 at 10:55 pm

Click the highlighted text and the link will take you to the source.

Francis Izu
January 6, 2018 at 9:30 pm

Comment…Fr J Martins is practically leading poor souls to Hades by his intellectually disordered teachings